Resurrection Potion
by BeepKeeper
Summary: Harry's adventures in fourth year with a slightly darker view - some deaths and lots of blood. Dumbledore, Cedric bashing. Harry makes true friends with Fleur and Krum but there are no ships. (He's fourteen!)


The Resurrection Potion

This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

 **Printed Word in letters and newspapers.**

{Parsel tongue conversation}

(~~~~)

Twin Bullies

In the month between the selection of champions for the Tri-Wizard Tournament and the First Task, Harry Potter ignored the students who called him 'cheater'. Once again, the atmosphere at Hogwarts mimicked his muggle home with bullies and adults who did not support him. Unlike his home in Surry, Harry had the help of two friends; Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom. In the library, they found books that detailed the history of the tournament – the types of tasks used – and Harry panicked. He was only fourteen and would have to face some powerful, magical creature, deal with a timed event that threatened death, and a final free-for-all race against more magical creatures!

Adding to the stress of the tournament, Ron Weasley remained a dunderhead while his older brothers, George and Fred, were mercilessly creative this year also – new pranks fell upon members of every house though Gryffindor suffered the most. Professor McGonagall continually gave detention to the pair of tricksters but nothing stopped the 'bullying'.

One morning as Harry left the Great Hall following breakfast, a Weasley jinx transformed his feet into a duck's webbed feet and his arms into tentacles like the giant squid that lived in Black Lake. This was the morning he had an important test in charms – now Harry would have to spend an hour or more in the infirmary. When Fred and George walked out of the Great Hall and laughed, the teenager's temper erupted and a fight began.

"Oh, look Forge," the first twin announced, "The Giant Squid mated with a duck and we got little Harry!"

"Isn't he cute?" replied the second twin before Harry's new tentacle arms grabbed them both.

"Think this is funny, do you?" the dark-haired teenager asked as he smashed Fred and George together hard once, twice, three times.

Hermione, Neville, and even traitorous Ron, watched Harry silently. They knew the twins would retaliate for this attack, but the three wished they could help. Only the day before Hermione and Neville fell victim to the 'lizard tongue' jinx.

"Mr. Potter, please stop banging their heads together," came the voice of their head of house. Her voice was not strident or angry, but suggestive. Hermione noticed that Harry did stop banging the heads of his two captives together though he did continue to smash their bodies together.

After another minute of squeezing and smashing the twins, Harry dropped them to the floor where they lay wheezing and shaking.

"Wow, Harry! That was brilliant!" shouted Ron who immediately remembered he was supposed to be angry at Potter – the red-head turned and scuttled off, leaving jinxed Harry to face McGonagall with Hermione, Neville and the groggy twins.

With her wand, McGonagall checked the twins for wounds – they were bruised and sore but nothing broken or ruptured.

"Excellent work with the tentacles, Mr. Potter," McGonagall finally said as the twins tried to stand.

Other students passed by and as she hurried passed, Professor Sprout commented, "Expel 'em Minerva! Flitwick and I will support you against Dumbledore!"

Fearful for a moment, Harry, Hermione and Neville thought the herbology professor meant them, but then McGonagall frowned and replied, "Expel the Weasley terrors? Albus will over rule me."

"Send a letter to their mother at least then! We're spending too much time on jinxes and hexes every week! This has to stop!" Paloma insisted.

Finally, Fred and George could stand, though they leaned against each other. They caught Harry's attention and his green eyes stared back, hard and determined.

"For every jinx you throw at me, I'm going to make you pay in spades!" the younger student promised them. "My cousin is a bully just like you and I've learned to fight back."

"Hear that Gred, little Harry thinks he can…"

"I'm Gred! You're Forge," the other twin argued.

"I don't care which one you are, listen to me!" McGonagall interrupted. "Mr. Potter is right! You're bullies and no one will deny it."

"The headmaster…"

"Hang the headmaster!" McGonagall said, frightening all the students for a moment. "These jinxes and tricks stop now!"

"But professor! What proof do you have that we did it?" Gred asked while Forge smirked. McGonagall stopped and knew the headmaster would overrule her detentions and punishments.

"I believe you have class to attend," she told the twins who limped away.

"Professor, how can they get away with this?" Harry asked, flicking a tentacle into the air. "I'll spend an hour in the infirmary and miss charms – I have a test today."

But rather than answer Harry, McGonagall instructed the other two students, "Miss Granger, Mr. Longbottom, if you will explain to Professor Flitwick that I have taken Mr. Potter to the infirmary."

Then she turned to Harry. "Come along, Mr. Potter. Can you walk?"

"I have to use the tentacles like crutches," Harry admitted. "The duck legs can't hold up my weight. If I was under the water, this body would be great but not in Hogwarts."

Remembering what the second task had in store for the contestants and Mr. Potter's involuntary contract for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, McGonagall said, "Your friend Mr. Longbottom can tell you all about 'gillyweed' – a magical plant that would allow you to breath under water while transformed. And ask Madam Pomphrey for the spell the twins used. She can provide it to you after she unravels it."

Harry stared at his professor for a moment but then nodded. For McGonagall to suggest he learn this Weasley jinx meant something important and he'd learn the spell today.

(~~~~)

Slytherin Potion Secrets!

Potions class was the usual nightmare. Snape yelled at Harry for three minutes after the end of class – his cauldron had exploded and shattered the stone ceiling of the dungeon. The dark-haired teen cast a strong shield and saved the surrounding Gryffindor students from serious harm as slabs of stone fell about. The Gryffindor students fled, leaving Harry to his fate while the Slytherin students remained to watch their head of house chew Potter up and spit him out.

After listening to the potions master berate James Potter, Harry's intelligence, his dead father again, the teenager's magical abilities, then James Potter for a third time, and finally the boy's hearing, Harry was released with orders to return that night for detention. As he left the potions classroom in the dungeon, Harry watched Draco's hulking minions pushing each other and jostling their book bags. Gregory Goyle pulled on the strap of his book bag to adjust it on his shoulder as a small book fell to the floor but the Slytherins left without noticing. Carefully picking up the book, Harry found it to be in pristine condition – apparently Goyle never opened the cover.

Hiding the book in his bag, Harry hurried to the Great Hall for lunch. Hermione was miffed at Harry after the accident in potions and went to study in the library, but Neville stayed at his side. The two boys ducked into a deserted classroom to study without the sniping Harry was subject to in the library. After finishing his essay for potions, Harry rummaged through his bag for his charms textbook but found the small book from the hallway.

"Nev, look at this book," Harry said, handing the slim volume to his friend. "It fell out of Goyle's bookbag this morning after potions."

Neville's eyebrows rose as he took the book from Harry.

"This book is not supposed to exist – there's just rumours about **Slytherin Potion Secrets**!" the blonde exclaimed, holding the book tightly.

"What rumours?" asked Harry.

"Ravenclaw students say that when he became head of Slytherin, Snape did something to give Slytherins an advantage in every potions class," Neville explained as he pointed at the book. "This book is that advantage."

"So, what do we do?" Harry asked. "Give copies to everyone in our house?"

For the first time, Neville plotted. "No… not yet. Let's read it and see what their secrets are first. Then we can share… if you want."

Harry cast the spell to duplicate the book, handing one to Neville. They spent two hours reading and discussing the book: wandless spells to superheat the contents of a cauldron, to contaminate the ingredients with dirt, or to reverse the direction of the stirring.

"These spells are all the things that cause our cauldrons to explode!" Neville said.

"This isn't to help the snakes do anything but sabotage other students!" Harry concluded. "That's how Draco stays at the top of the class – he sabotages the other Slytherin students as well as Gryffindor students."

"I don't want to make people's potions explode," Neville admitted. "There's a shielding spell here that we can use to protect our cauldrons."

"We can teach it to everyone in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."

"But not the others," Neville said.

Grinning Harry said, "The warming spells could help in the greenhouses, right?"

Neville grinned. "They'll help a lot! It's hard to keep the tropical greenhouse warm enough here in winter!"

(~~~~)

When Harry arrived in the dungeons that evening for detention, Snape was brewing Pepper Up, a volatile potion that used dragon's blood and powdered dragon's scales. Snape sneered when he found Harry at his door.

"Potter! What are you doing…? Ah, yes… detention! I'd forgotten."

The potions professor frowned and pointed to the adjoining classroom where three dozen cauldrons waited to be scrubbed.

"Clean the cauldrons properly or you'll have to scrub each one a second time!"

Harry nodded as Snape growled, "Do not speak to me or bother me until you are done! And I don't care if the castle is collapsing, do not stop cleaning cauldrons!"

"Yes sir," Harry replied.

Without speaking again, he hurried to the classroom through the open door. As he scrubbed cauldrons, Harry could see the table where Snape brewed a bubbling potion. Applying his cleaning skills from his years as the 'house elf' for the Dursleys to the task before him, Harry scrubbed the cauldrons while he practiced casting the small silent spells from Slytherin Potions Secrets at myriad items in Snape's office. The stash of chocolate bars melted into a single chunk of chocolate, the fire whiskey was contaminated with ink from papers in the trash can, the jar filled with eye-of-newt for next week's polyjuice project for Slytherin seventh-year students was contaminated with the burnt remains of a first year's attempt to make the burn balm suave.

Pausing in his brewing, Snape mused aloud, "Potter, if I give you detention every night from now until the first task, you won't have any more time to prepare and the dragon will certainly kill you!"

Freezing in place, Harry forgot to breath for a moment before Snape laughed, "Oops. No one was supposed to tell you about the dragons for the first task. There's nothing you can do to get out of it either!"

Panic setting in, Harry stopped scrubbing and caught the dour professor's eye. Rather than feeling victorious over James Potter, Snape only saw Lily's sad, green eyes that tore at his heart for a second. But the sour potion's professor had a small, hard heart and he locked away any remorse for his words and actions.

' _He'll kill me! Here every night… How can I prepare to face a dragon?'_ Harry's mind raced.

About twenty minutes later, Severus Snape reached a critical point in the brewing – he lifted the glass bottle with the glowing dragon's blood and powdered dragon's scales over the cauldron. He tipped the mouth of the bottle into the cauldron to add the mixture of dragon ingredients while stirring the potion counter-clockwise.

Like the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students who shared the potions classroom with the Slytherin students for the last thirteen years since Severus Snape began teaching potions, the potion master did not notice the contaminates that had been conjured into his cauldron or the extra stirs in the wrong direction.

Harry carried two more clean cauldrons to the stack of clean ones when behind him, Snape's office exploded.

(~~~~)

Opening his eyes again, Harry was confused for a minute, but then remembered where he was, and why he was there. He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious but the teenage wizard climbed out from under the pile of cauldrons that had fallen on him, and hurried to the doorway to Professor Snape's office; he found the room in shambles and the potions professor laid across the floor, his arms and legs at unnatural angles. While Harry stared, Snape's eyes opened.

The potions professor opened his mouth but no sounds came out. Remembering Snape's directions not to speak to him or interrupt cleaning the cauldrons, Harry nodded solemnly before returning to his assigned task. For thirty minutes Harry continued scrubbing cauldrons even though someone was banging on the door to the office. The teenager glanced up occasionally, waiting to see the final light vanish from Snape's eye.

Severus Snape died in agony with most of the bones in his body broken, and the eyes of the only person he'd ever loved glancing at him with contempt. Once Harry finished cleaning the last cauldron, the boy walked through the classroom and opened that locked door to find a crowd at the locked door to potions professor's office.

"Help!" he shouted at the back of the wizards at that door. "Professor Snape is injured."

Apparently, the prefects and headmaster had not thought to enter through the classroom. Now, Dumbledore and the Slytherin prefects swept around Harry to hurry through the classroom and the jumble of cauldrons spread all over the floor to Snape's office. Dumbledore started the fire on the hearth again – the explosion had suffocated the fire. He found enough floo powder to cast into the flames and call Poppy in the infirmary. She stepped through with a bag and knelt beside Severus.

The students, including Harry at the back of the group, watched the mediwitch check his pulse and then cast a spell. She looked up at Dumbledore and quietly announced, "He's gone."

Dumbledore was dazed for a moment as Poppy directed the Slytherin students out of the office and classroom. The prefects would inform the other students.

"Harry, what happened?" Dumbledore asked when he remembered the Gryffindor was in the room.

Looking directly at the headmaster, Harry kept the images of Snape at the forefront of his mind. "I had detention and scrubbed cauldrons. Snape never…"

"Professor Snape!" insisted Dumbledore.

"…never explained what he was brewing but I recognized a flask of dragon's blood," Harry explained while remembering Snape's threat to give him detention every night to prevent preparation for the first task.

"Are you alright, my boy?" inquired the headmaster.

Harry shook his head, "I… Yes, headmaster, I was in this room and… I went to the classroom door… the office door looks like it is blocked."

"Yes, we couldn't get in but I never thought to try the classroom door," Dumbledore admitted as he attempted to gather Harry's thoughts gently. But the boy's mind was filled with Snape's taunts about James Potter, and cauldrons flying through the air with the explosion.

Watching for signs of the headmaster's typical treatment of the boy, Pomphrey left the corpse of Severus Snape to interrupt Albus and examine Harry with a few diagnostic spells.

"He is in shock, Headmaster. I'll take him to the infirmary for the evening."

Using the floo, Poppy took Harry to her safe infirmary, tucked him into bed and cast a strong 'notice-me-not' on his bed if any visitors arrived.

Dumbledore summoned the head house elf and gave her orders to prepare the body for burial the next day. "And clean up this office. I must find a replacement for Sev… for the potions professor before the end of the week."

(~~~~)

News spread slowly in the dormitories that evening and it wasn't until breakfast the next morning that many students officially heard of the passing of Severus Snape. Flitwick, Sprout and McGonagall were near their house tables so they prevented any signs or sounds of celebration. Dumbledore waved his funny wand and transfigured everyone's robes into mourning clothes for a week though the visiting students and professors objected strenuously.

The Slytherin table was quiet – the students met formally before breakfast and voted that there was to be no blame placed on Potter. Despite Draco's best dramatics, the only persons who joined him in blaming Potter for the death of their head of house were his minions, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. The students had more concern with the disappearance of their secret book of wandless spells; with Professor Snape's death, everyone's copy of the book vanished and the spells faded from their memories. The spell that Snape used tied the book to the 'Slytherin students' and because Harry and Neville were not in that house, the copies they held were still useful.

"Draco, you've got to study to be ready for potions now!" Patsy Parkinson fussed. "We can't let the Gryffindor beat Slytherin in class!"

(~~~~)

At lunch that day, Dumbledore introduced Professor Andromeda Tonks as the new potions professor. He also announced that astronomy professor, Felicity Sinistra, would become the new head of house for Slytherin. Draco Malfoy had no clue who the new professor was but she resembled his mother and that concerned him somewhat. The teenager was more concerned how the new head of house would view him – her family was traditionally dark, and powerful in the Wizegamot, but also very private. They refused to support the dark lord, stating his aims were short-sighted.

' _Father never says anything polite about the professor's grandfather and their dealings in the Wizegamot,'_ he remembered. His mouth set, Draco decided, _'She'll remember not to mess with a Malfoy after I remind her.'_

(~~~~)

That afternoon, there was a house meeting with all Slytherin students and their new head of house. Among the Slytherins, Sinistra's reputation was generally positive; she treated all students fairly in her astronomy classes and used muggle telescopes to examine the planets and stars on clear nights. But she revealed her dark side twenty minutes into the meeting when she threatened to move the whole of Slytherin house out of dungeons if their performance in classes and in the hallways, did not immediately improve.

"There'll be no duels between classes, no disparaging remarks about anyone's parentage or blood status!" she demanded. "Slytherin is the house of planning…"

"No professor! We can't let the mudbloods…" Draco choked as his mouth was filled with a vile tasting soap suds. Despite how he spit and coughed, the suds bubbled up in his mouth for two full minutes. With his attention focused on his mouth, Draco missed Professor Sinistra's directions to the other students and most of them dispersed

"How dare you!" Draco thundered once the spell ended. "My father will hear of this!"

Professor Sinistra raised a single eyebrow and Draco continued, "I am Draco Malfoy and you're a blood-traitor…"

This time the mouth-wash jinx lasted for a full four minutes. While Draco dealt with suds flowing out of his mouth and down his expensive robes, Sinistra spoke to the other fourth years who 'followed' Draco around Hogwarts. While she assured Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle that she would write to her grandfather about the two boys acting as Malfoy's muscle, Patsy Parkinson attempted to help Draco. Then Sinistra sent Patsy to the Great Hall for supper before the professor cleaned up Draco's robes. The boy was breathing hard – his fury to be treated in this manner overruled his good sense and he pulled his wand against his head of house.

Sinistra grabbed Draco's wand from the air; a simple expelliarmus spell disarmed the teenager. Now, incandescent with rage, Malfoy reached for his spare wand only to be petrified and levitated out of the dungeons. His petrified form followed the professor to her office where Sinistra wrote a letter to the boy's parents and then called a house elf.

"Take this letter to Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy. You do not need to wait for a response."

The little elf bowed and vanished with a pop. Sinistra praised her elves in private and never beat them – something her family would never allow. Before leaving for supper, she placed Draco with his face in the corner and reinforced the petrification.

(~~~~)

During the meal, Dumbledore inquired about the absence of Draco Malfoy.

"Mr. Malfoy has his mind on more important matters than supper," Sinistra replied. "He will be here for breakfast, I imagine."

(~~~~)

The floo in Professor Sinistra's office flared as Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy stepped through the flames from their home to enter the office of the new head of house for Slytherin. The news of the death of Severus Snape was only now being circulated among the general wizard population and Lucius reeled at the story – Snape died of a mishandled potion using dragon's blood.

To step into Sinistra's office and find Draco petrified in a corner, caused both parents to pause long enough for Sinistra to say, "I am greatly concerned with young Mr. Malfoy. He attempted to curse his head of house this afternoon and is in possession of a second, illegal wand."

"Release my son…"

Sinistra merely sniffed as Narcissa laid her hand on her husband's wand arm – he was raising it against the professor in her own office.

"Can you explain the circumstances of the unfortunate incident?" the witch asked as she pulled Lucius onto a sofa.

"Slytherin House represents planning and intelligence. Draco displays neither of these characteristics. Last year, I concluded you bribed Dumbledore to force the Sorting Hat to place him in Slytherin rather than Gryffindor, with the other brash, loud children."

Lucius rose from the sofa, a cutting curse firing from his wand. Narcissa dropped to the floor as the shields in the office caught the spell and threw it back at Malfoy, taking off the hair from the left side of his head.

"Stop! Lucius, stop!" Narcissa demanded. The Sinistra family was almost as powerful as the Black family had been before the Dark Lord destroyed so much of Magical Britain. Lucius would not win any confrontation with the family.

"This stupid bitch…" Lucius said as soap suds began flowing from his mouth.

(~~~~)

At breakfast the following morning, Draco's absence was noted again. When Dumbledore pressed Sinistra for an explanation, the astronomy professor lay down her knife and fork to turn and address the headmaster.

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy visited last night and noticed that young Draco was overcome with grief for his godfather. They decided their son should return home to address the sadness," Sinistra explained. "Naturally as his head-of-house, I put his welfare first and allowed them to take him home. An elf collected his trunk and belongings before midnight."

Andromeda Tonks added, "I am certain that Lucius and Narcissa took my presence into consideration. We have not spoken in twenty years."

Dumbledore frowned – in a single week he'd lost two pawns who kept Harry Potter irritated and off-centred. McGonagall did not notice the close look the new head of Slytherin gave the headmaster but Sprout and Flitwick did; the three of them would work together to blunt Dumbledore and attempt to lead McGonagall back to putting students first.

That was the last anyone would see of Draco – or Lucius for that matter – for several years. At the next Wizegamot meeting Horace Sinistra, Professor Sinistra's grandfather, voted the Malfoy seat and explained that the family had withdrawn from society to mourn the death of Severus Snape.

That same week, Patsy Parkinson learned that there was no betrothal agreement, and Grabbe and Goyle were freed to pursue their own interests at Hogwarts. Vincent became proficient in transfiguration and Greg excelled at charms. All three students – along with most of Slytherin – followed Professor Sinistra in opposing the students who espoused the dark lord's drivel.

(~~~~)

Harry Shares His Knowledge

When he was summoned from potions class for a ceremony regarding the wands to be used in the tournament, Harry was sorry to leave the class – Professor Tonks was an excellent instructor and her class fostered Harry's desire to learn the craft of brewing potions. But he followed Dennis up from the dungeons to the designated classroom and met the other champions and Rita Skinner.

Amos Diggory was present and the proud father demanded all of Rita's time. This allowed Harry to speak freely with the other contestants.

"Listen, one of my professors let slip that we're going to face dragons in the first task," he whispered confidentially. Each of the other three froze for a long moment before turning to the fourth contestant.

"Dragons? Well, that'll take some extra planning," said Victor. "Good luck."

"Oui, good luck defeating les dragons," Fleur said as she hurried from the room.

Cedric frowned and asked, "Who told you about the dragons?"

Harry frowned. "I just wanted to let you know. I didn't want you to be surprized that day."

Shaking his head, Cedric said, "Didn't McGonagall tell you? Sprout told me that first night."

Harry sat down in a nearby chair as Diggory added, "They must not plan for you to really compete if they haven't told you. I'm certain that's it… they will let you make an appearance and then leave…"

The Hufflepuff walked away without another word, leaving Harry Potter to stare at the floor for a time – all three other contestants already knew about the dragons!

' _They knew but didn't say anything to me! They want me dead too!'_

(~~~~)

Dobby's Contribution

The next two weeks were quiet at Hogwarts and Harry spent his spare hours studying spells and information on dragons. In his copy of **Magical Creatures and Where to Find Them** , the teenage wizard found a list of a dozen natural items that created severe allergic reactions in dragons. With the open book in his hand, Harry summoned Dobby and other Hogwarts elves to ask about hippogriff dander, thestrals dung, and hot chili peppers.

The elves from the castle kitchens provided Harry with enough hot peppers to coat any dragon in spicy salsa, and they showed him where Hagrid piled the thestrals dung to dry before it could be used as fertilizer. Dobby had to venture across Britain to find hippogriff dander but he returned after three days – he'd cleaned a series of hippogriff caves in Wales. The wild creatures had migrated to Spain and North Africa for the winter, leaving their summer dens uninhabited. After cleaning the caves, Dobby had two trunks of hippogriff dander for Harry's experiments and use.

With Neville helping him study the contamination spells from their secret book, Harry learned how to embed his robes with the essence of hot peppers, how to summon hippogriff dander to form a dense cloud, and somewhat reluctantly, how to summon thestral dung to mix with water to make a mud that could coat anything or anyone.

(~~~~)

Late one afternoon while Neville was working in the greenhouses, Harry slipped through the hallways between the Gryffindor tower and the library – he wanted to read more on the different breeds of dragons without getting harassed by other students. The school calmed down without Draco's efforts to stir the cauldron continually, but Harry still avoided confrontations with the Puffs or Slytherins. Outside of a classroom that he used with Hermione and Neville frequently to practice spells, Harry found Dobby waiting for him.

"Hey, Dobby!" Harry greeted the helpful elf.

"Mr. Harry Potters come inside and listen to Dobby!" the little fellow insisted.

"Sure, Dobby," Harry agreed and followed the elf into the deserted room. The door was shut and locked with fourteen different spells by the little elf very quickly.

"Dobby finds this book for Mr. Harry Potters in Greasy Gits boxes when the elves cleans offices for Mrs. Professor Tonkses," the elf said as he pulled a wide, thin book from a tiny pocket in his pillow case. "Dobby asks Mr. Harry Potter to reads and learns all about minds magic."

"Mind magic?" Harry asked as he reached for the book labelled ' **Potent Protections for the Mind** '.

"This magic calls Occlumency protects Mr. Harry Potters minds from Whiskers and Dark Lords. Four years, Whiskers and Greasy Git-a-longs try to reads Mr. Harry Potters mind many, many, many times!"

Checking the front of the book, Harry read that the book was printed in Philadelphia in the USA in 1904. The American English used different spellings for many words but the sentences and paragraphs all made sense to the teenage boy.

"Dobby, shouldn't this book go with Professor Snape's belongings to…"

"Snapeses books and clothes all goes into 'Come and Go' room," Dobby replied. "Mr. Whiskers wanted all things wiped away before Mrs. Professor Tonkses arrives."

"The elves put all his books… Are there any dangerous things in his belongings?"

The elf shook his head, "Elves destroy all things dangerous, drink his Fire whiskey, and dance in the empty office to make all wards fall to new ones for Mrs. Professor Tonkses."

"I'd like to see the elves dance, Dobby," Harry told the elf as he sat in a conjured chair with a bright reading light. The young wizard devoured the slim volume – a second treasure from Severus Snape's hoarded knowledge.

(~~~~)

First Task

On the morning of the first task, the sky over Hogwarts was grey with rainclouds. Weather charms would prevent the rain until that night but the day would remain overcast without any bright sunlight. Harry ate very little breakfast though Hermione encouraged him to try some toast and orange juice

"Thank Merlin, it's not pumpkin juice!" Harry exclaimed. "Where did you get it?"

"Dobby got it for you," his friend explained.

"What's wrong, Potter? Pumpkin juice not good enough for you?" taunted Ron from further down the table.

"Hush Weasley," Neville groused. "Everyone knows adults use pumpkin juice to hide the taste of the potions they give their children."

A silence fell over the table as more and more Gryffindors and nearby Hufflepuff's dropped their cups of pumpkin juice. The older students cast revealing spells at the pumpkin juice and then joined an exodus to the head table to shout at the headmaster and professors. Neville smiled while Harry and Hermione grinned.

"Thanks, Neville, that was a great diversion!" Harry told his friend.

"Is there a potion in the pumpkin juice this morning?" Hermione asked as she pushed her cup away and reached for the pitcher of orange juice.

Neville looked introspective for a moment before he explained, "Not the usual ones. Today there's a potion to be polite to the visitors and not tell tales about anything that happens at Hogwarts. Tomorrow the juice will have the same potions as always…"

"What potions do they put in there?" demanded Hermione, pointing at the pumpkin juice.

Neville shrugged, "Oh potions to trust the headmaster, to not like Slytherin students… things like that." When he noticed the looks of shock on Harry and Hermione's faces, Neville quickly added, "It's a Hogwarts tradition since Dumbledore became headmaster…"

(~~~~)

In her long battle with the Welsh Green dragon, Fleur lost her left arm. The vela-witch and dragon danced around the arena, throwing fireballs at each other until the end when the Beauxbaton champion made a dash past the nest and grabbed the golden egg. Running at an angle to catch the 'egg-thief', the Welsh Green grabbed at the witch, her jaws closing over her left forearm and snapping it off.

The screams from the audience distracted the dragon enough to allow the young witch to run from the stadium. Her arm was chewed and swallowed before the dragon handlers could enter the arena so there'd be no re-attachment.

(~~~~)

The audience remained agitated and when Cedric Diggory entered the arena to battle the Chinese Fireball, they quieted for only a moment. In the next thirty minutes, Cedric sent transfigured dogs and pigs around the nesting dragon. Finally irritated enough, the dragon ventured off her nest to chase the animals and Diggory made his move for the golden egg. Catching the movement in the corner of her eye, the Fireball sent a long tongue of flame that caught the Hogwarts champion on the left side of his face. He held onto the golden egg but ran with flames in his hair.

Poppy immediately knocked Cedric out in her field infirmary. She applied salves to the burned areas and with the help of Mrs. Diggory, managed to get two potions into him. Outside, Amos Diggory strutted about, shouting about his son's success and ignoring Cedric's injuries.

(~~~~)

When Victor Krum came onto the field to face the Swedish Short Snout, his confidence proved to be his undoing. He transfigured sand into a powerful broom and prepared to take off but the mother dragon leapt across the field and grabbed the Durmstrang champion by the leg. His wand casting ineffective spells, the young wizard was thrown from the arena and into the stands, leaving his left leg in the dragon's jaws.

From the judges' seats, Dumbledore ordered a delay in the next competition – the headmaster of Durmstrang had gone to the infirmary tent to check on Krum. The dragon handlers removed the Swedish Short Snout after she swallowed Victor's leg – she lunged at two different handlers but they knew her preference for wizard flesh and kept their shields strong.

Barty Crouch, Sr. commented, "With these dragons eating limbs, do you think Potter will even make a mouthful for the Horntail?"

Madam Olympe Maxime sniffed dismissively, "You insisted the boy compete. If he is eaten, Dumblesdores will be blamed!"

(~~~~)

Finally, it was Harry Potter's turn to face his dragon; the audience was silent but prepared to scream when they saw the boy eaten alive. If the three champions were missing limbs and burned, how was a fourteen-year-old to survive? Watching twenty handlers slowly move the large Hungarian Horntail into the arena, the crowd grew more tense.

Contemplating possible outcomes for Harry Potter in the coming confrontation with a dragon, Minerva McGonagall decided to transfigure Albus into a white mouse for her cat form to play with for an hour or two.

In his mind, the editor of the Daily Prophet composed his sad editorial about the short life of Harry Potter and the companion denunciation of Albus Dumbledore.

Andromeda Tonks glanced around – this was a nut house – not the Hogwarts she remembered at all.

Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom both downed calming potions while Ron, Fred, George and Ginny Weasley slowly crept out of the arena. If the jinxes Fred and George buried on the arena field went off while the Horntail was present, there'd be nothing to keep the dragon from leaping on the audience for a feast.

Despite his nervousness, Harry walked steadily out of the tent, following the same path as the three champions. Hopeful of keeping all his limbs, he made a show of using his wand to cast a spell upon himself – he was immediately surrounded by a bright, glittering, red bubble.

The Hungarian Horntail's nostrils flared and she drew back her head and neck. The nasty smell of deadly red peppers surrounded the magical brat. She watched as the small wizard drew a trunk from a pocket, unshrunk, and opened it.

From inside the bubble, another spell was cast and a cloud of fine dirt flew above the Horntail and began to drift down on her skin. She pulled franticly at the chains, blew flames at the magical dust but it just glowed and settled on her scales. The dragon howled in distress as her scales itched…

Finally, the boy cast the aguamenti charm and water flew toward the dragon. Ignoring the smelly matter that flew into the arena and mixed with the water, the dragon bent to let the water wash the irritating dust from her scales but… this was thick, smelly mud that clung to her claws, her limbs, and her tail. Was that dung from the carrion eaters? It was in her eyes!

The stench and burn were too much – the Horntail burst from her chains and fled! She had to reach the ocean and wash this pain away!

The stadium was silent as the dragon vanished in the distance. Dragon handlers followed on brooms to subdue the dragon when she landed. Other handlers quickly removed her eggs, letting the boy take the golden egg.

"Five minutes and not a scratch on him!" Barty Crouch announced, the amazement evident in his voice. He held up his score of ten points. The other judges were forced to score Harry with similar high marks and he ended the task in first place.

(~~~~)

The Great Hall was quiet the next morning as everyone present read complimentary copies of the Daily Prophet. (Sirius Black intended for word to get out about his godson's stellar performance).

 **Tri-Wizard Disaster /First Task is Feast for Dragons**

 **Harry Potter is Awesome!**

 **In the first task for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, the only champion to walk away from the arena with all his limbs and not on fire, was the champion forced to participate – Harry Potter. The fourth-year Gryffindor made no statements to the press though he was perfectly well and smiling as he walked off the field with his golden egg, safely lifted from the nest of the gigantic Hungarian Horntail.**

 **Surrounded by a bright red light, Potter drove the Horntail from the field of battle with dust and mud. Howling in fear of the mighty wizard Potter, the creature broke her chains and flew away. Handlers from the Romanian Dragon Preserve followed and reported the beast took a dip in several famous lochs in Scotland, scaring muggles each time who ran from the scene screaming, "Nessie! Nessie!"**

 **Finally subdued after washing all the mud from her scales, the dragon was guided back to Hogwarts and her clutch of eggs. Thirteen dragon handlers worked through the night to massage oils into the dragon's scales and allow her to relax.**

 **The other contestants suffered terrible injuries in the first task.**

 **Fleur Delacour, (champion for Beauxbaton), lost most of her left arm in the jaws of a Welch Green. The handlers admitted the Greens favour a diet with lots of poultry.**

 **Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, suffered extensive burns to his face and head. St. Mungo's was finally consulted and they wrapped the young wizard in mud baths similar to the one used against the Horntail by Potter.**

 **Victor Krum, champion for Durmstrang, lost his left leg at the knee to his hungry dragon. It's not known at this time if this will end his career in Quidditch though his days of ballroom dancing certainly are at an end.**

 **In discussion with the judges after the completion of the first task, the rules were consulted and it was clearly announced that each contestant will have to continue the contest despite missing limbs.**

(~~~~)

Tri-Wizard Ball

It was the afternoon of 22 December and tonight, Hogwarts would host the Yule Ball for the Tri-Wizard Tournament. With the tension inside the castle between the leaders of each school; no one knew what to expect. Many students wondered if Fleur Delacour will appear with an empty sleeve in her gown. Would that affect her beauty? The Quidditch fans worried that Victor Krum would be forced to hobble about on crutches. Would his Quidditch career continue?

Half of Cedric's face remained covered with white bandages at lunch but Cho insisted that they would attend the ball. Surrounded by other young women from Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, she preened and asked, "Who else can open the dance?"

Smiling coldly, she added, "My Cedric is the only wizard with all his limbs."

"What about Harry Potter?" asked Professor Flitwick as he passed the table. "He did quite well in the first task – he was the only champion to subdue his dragon."

"He tricked the dragon into flying away," Cho said to dismiss the argument. "A real wizard…"

"Miss Chang, be silent!" insisted Professor McGonagall as she began to direct the house elves with placing decorations around the Great Hall for the evening. "I suggest all students return to their dormitories until time for the festivities this evening! And remember if you are returning home tomorrow for the remainder of the holidays, pack your trunk tonight!"

(~~~~)

That evening, the faculty, students and selected visitors waited impatiently in the Great Hall for the champions to appear – most persons assembled expected to see only Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang enter the hall to open the Tri-Wizard Tournament Ball. There'd been no announcements of how Krum could walk, if Delacour was adjusting to having only a single arm, or if any witch would be seen with Potter.

When Deputy Headmistress McGonagall opened the doors, her smile was a marvellous thing to see and the audience was distracted from staring at the couple entering the hall. She moved to the side and allowed Diggory and his date to enter, though Cho appeared a little downcast. Not that anyone paid attention to the witch from Ravenclaw – Cedric's face had been healed and his hair restored; without doubt his smile threatened to outshine the glittering Yule lights.

Behind Cedric walked Victor Krum! This was no artifice or peg leg – Krum's leg had been restored! And he escorted a mysterious, beautiful, young witch. The crowd stared – the Quidditch star's lost leg had been restored and he nodded to everyone as the girls in the Great Hall finally recognized his date – Hermione Granger!

And last through the doorway came Fleur Delacour with her left arm restored and her escort, the fourth champion, Harry Potter.

Dumbledore and the other representatives of the British Ministry for Magic were dumbstruck, so Madam Maxime motioned for the champions to speak. Nodding once to the headmistress of Beauxbaton, Cedric bowed to the audience and announced, "We, the three champions of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, would like to begin the ball by expressing our thanks to the benefactor of our recovery – Mr. Harry Potter, the fourth champion."

Victor smiled and addressed the audience, "Mr. Potter provided the rare and valuable ingredients that restored Cedric's face, my leg, and Miss Delacour's arm."

Smiling at Harry and then the audience, Fleur said, "Vérité! C'est truth – Harry Potter is wizard magnificent and soul generous! He has true spirit of le Tournament de Tri-Wizards."

Fleur's restored left hand reached over and pulled Harry's face closer to bestow a kiss amid the flash of cameras capturing the moment. Silence held for only a moment before Neville Longbottom leapt to his feet and began to applaud, followed by everyone standing to applaud the recovery of the three champions and the good will of Harry Potter.

(~~~~)

Flashback

The days following the First Task, Harry sought out Cedric in the hallways between classes. On the third day, he finally found the Hufflepuff walking very slowly between classes, and Harry stepped up to offer his shoulder.

"Thanks Potter," Cedric said, leaning on the Gryffindor as he helped him into the classroom for charms. "The headmaster insisted that I get back on the dragon today. Madam Pomphrey had kittens but my father agreed with the headmaster."

Harry and Flitwick quickly organized a team of Puff and Claws to help Cedric get from class to class.

"They'll carry your book bag and someone will give you their shoulder the whole way," Harry said.

"And tonight, you'll return to the infirmary. Once Professor Sprout hears about this, she'll teach Dumbledore to think twice before interfering with one of her injured badgers," Professor Flitwick assured the boy.

"What about your face?" Harry asked though Cedric looked away and did not answer. Flitwick motioned Harry away from the Puffs and Claws surrounding the injured Diggory.

"Wizards can't do much with terrible burns or missing limbs," the charms professor informed the Gryffindor teenager. "Mad-eye Moody is a good example of the best that wizards can do. But goblins have the potions and spells to restore Cedric's face and to regrow Miss Delacour arm as well as Mr. Krum's leg."

"That's great, professor!" Harry exclaimed. "Can we send them an owl…"

Flitwick shook his head. "The price is exorbitant and the ingredients are scare!"

"What ingredients? What price?" asked Harry.

Flitwick took a moment to consider his answer before explaining, "The key ingredients to restore the burned skin, eye and hair are the skin and blood of a basilisk. And to regrow a limb on a grown wizard, you must have a millilitre of basilisk venom. Most harvests in the wild only bring back half of a millilitre of venom and the creature's skin is seldom bigger than a small snake."

The diminutive professor was surprized that Harry Potter merely smiled before asking, "How much money will it take for the goblins to help?"

"About five thousand galleons for each procedure…" Flitwick replied. He knew no magical guardian would allow their charge to empty an education vault to pay for this. But it was the next question that Filius would remember for the rest of his life, a moment when his perception of wizards changed permanently.

"What's a basilisk corpse worth?" The intensity of Harry's expression was unique as he continued, "One that's about thirty meters long?"

(~~~~)

Filius Flitwick took most of the night to weigh his options – help Harry Potter or report to Albus Dumbledore. He used the floo in his office to visit a cousin who worked in Gringotts and their contentious argument flowed into the hallways. Eventually, they ended up before the head of their clan – Ragnock, Director of Vaults underneath Gringotts.

"Your position will be protected, Flitwick. No wizard will be told that you brought this opportunity to our attention."

"Thank you, clan leader, but I have no fear for myself. I want to protect the young wizard who killed the beast and then offered to provide the ingredients and the Galleons… He deserves honour for his thoughtfulness to support his competitors in this damn tournament!"

The goblin chief took a moment to consider his two distant cousins.

"The wizards will know eventually…" Flitwick began to say.

His cousin, a goblin named Ironstream argued, "But if Gringotts has already processed the carcass, provided the cures, and deposited the extra money into a vault that can't be accessed by anyone but the young wizard, then Whiskers can't touch the gold or force…"

"How large is the carcass?" asked Ragnock.

"It is huge. But there is another problem as well," the charms professor admitted.

"The Chamber of Secrets may be underneath Hogwarts but Dumbledore has no claim to the carcass," Ironstream argued.

"Perhaps if you view the memory…" Not wanting to use the words 'Dark Lord' or 'horcrux', Flitwick withdrew the vial with the young wizard's memory of the battle and offered it to Ragnock and Ironstream. He hadn't explained anything to Harry after viewing the memory – Dumbledore had to know and Flitwick wanted to consider all the reasons possible for not explaining things to the boy.

(~~~~)

The headmaster was invited to attend a ceremony at Gringotts on a Saturday morning – the Gringotts horde was to open three vaults that were sealed a thousand years before when magical families were wiped out by invading Vikings. The Minister of Magic and three department heads were expected to attend to make the ministry's claims to the gold official. With Dumbledore's attendance, it was hoped fewer Galleons would stick to the fingers of the politicians.

No one in the castle paid attention to Professor Flitwick or Harry and his two friends; they made the trip to the girl's lavatory and entered the Chamber of Secrets without interference. Upon arrival in the Chamber, Neville was fascinated with the different mosses and fungi growing on the old basilisk skins. Harry sent two of the skins to the Longbottom greenhouses via house elf express that same day. Hermione kept craning her neck about to look at everything and find a hidden stash of books.

Flitwick made photos of Harry before the basilisk and then placed the portkeys that allowed Ragnock and a team of harvesters to enter the Chamber of Secrets. The goblins spent the rest of the day carving up, bottling, and carting away the basilisk. Potion masters from the bank bubbled with excitement at the potency of the venom. Large sheets of basilisk skin were harvested and earmarked as donations for burn centres in the ten largest wizard hospitals.

"Tonight, we feast! Basilisk steaks for everyone!" shouted Ragnock as they completed the harvest. Then the Director of Vaults underneath Gringotts bowed before Harry Potter and placed a new key in the boy's hand.

"Mr. Potter this key will only work for you," the director told the boy. "No one can take your gold from the sale of this basilisk."

"Thank you, director," Harry said. "Would you be so good as to take funds to pay to fix Cedric's face, and the leg and arm of the other two champions?"

The director smiled and replied, "Mr. Potter, Gringotts will provide those services gratis in recognition of the great profit we will make selling your basilisk carcass."

"Thank you, Director! May your vaults fill with gold and happy memories!"

(~~~~)

The next morning, Gringotts owls arrived in Hogwarts for Cedric Diggory, and in the living quarters for the visiting schools for Fleur Delacour and Victor Krum. That afternoon, Mrs. Diggory came to collect Cedric.

"Where is Amos?" Pomona asked as they waited for Cedric to arrive.

Mrs. Diggory ducked her head and replied, "My husband is tied up today. I came to take Cedric to see a specialist about his burns."

"I'll be back in two days, professor," Cedric explained.

Indeed, Amos Diggory was tied up; Mrs. Diggory left him tied to the kitchen chair that morning when she left for Hogwarts. When the letter from Gringotts arrived with the details of the procedure to restore Cedric's face, Amos wanted to go to the Daily Prophet and the ministry with the news until his wife showed him the paragraph about non-disclosure and the penalties involved if he released the news. She left Amos tied up in his dressing gown at the breakfast table. The house elf who loved Mrs. Diggory, agreed to keep Mr. Diggory silent and tied to the chair until her mistress returned that evening.

That evening, Amos discovered the power of the witch he married when he attempted to leave the house. She transfigured him into a large bath towel and had the elf launder him. Once he was folded and in the linen closet, Mrs. Diggory addressed her husband, "If you behave, I will release you after Cedric is healed. If you don't, you will be your mother's bath towel when she visits for Yule!"

(~~~~)

Outside Hogwarts, no one paid attention when Victor's parents arrived at the Durmstrang ship and took their son to London. Likewise, there was no one watching when Monsieur and Madam Delacour arrived with their security guards and immediately departed with Fleur.

Two days later, the afternoon before the ball, the three champions returned to Hogwarts. Cedric still wore the magical bandages around his face but Poppy Pomphrey was all smiles after a short examination of the Hufflepuff's wounds.

(~~~~)

As the hour approached to begin the ball, a lone witch stood outside the Great Hall, waiting for Cedric to arrive.

' _This is MY night,'_ Cho Chang thought smugly. _'All eyes will be on me…'_

Then the Ravenclaw's thoughts were disturbed by the arrival of Harry Potter and his muggleborn witch, Hermione Granger. _'Potter is handsome enough and the bloody girl is bloody beautiful!'_

Before Chang could make any remarks, Professor McGonagall arrived and smiled. "Mr. Potter, I see you found a date."

"Sorry, professor, Miss Granger is not my date," Harry replied to the surprize of both McGonagall and Chang.

"She is my date!" announced Victor Krum, stepping confidently into the hallway of Hogwarts with Fleur Delacour on his arm. "And I have brought Mr. Potter's date to adorn his arm."

"Non," retorted Fleur. "It is I who has the adornment with the eyes emerald!"

Victor proceeded to kiss Fleur's hand before handing her to Harry, while the Gryffindor champion passed Hermione to the Quidditch star. McGonagall stared at the young wizard with his leg restored and the witch with her new arm.

"How…" Cho asked in a choked voice.

"Magic!" replied Harry which made Fleur, Victor and Hermione each laugh.

From behind them came Cedric's voice, "Did you begin without me!"

"Mr. Diggory! Your face is…" McGonagall sputtered.

The Puff smiled at his girlfriend who looked lost and quipped, "Like Harry said, it's magic!"

(~~~~)

Pumpkin Juice

The morning after the Tri-Wizard Tournament Ball, the Daily Prophet arrived on time with a cover photo of the Champions as they addressed the gathering. Page 2 carried the photo of the lovely Fleur Delacroix giving Harry Potter his first kiss. Page 3 carried the photos of the dancing, the laughter and the bridges built between the three schools.

While Ron Weasley stared at the picture of his ex-best-friend get kissed by the beautiful veela with the world-famous Quidditch player smiling in the background, his twin brothers doused his pumpkin juice with a new potion – Veela Love. Once Ron drank the potion and burped, several young wizards began to move closer. It only took three minutes for Ron to run screaming from the room with four wizards chased after him.

McGonagall sighed and went to write another letter to Molly Weasley. Her strong recommendation was that the Weasley children return home for the holiday, where Arthur and Molly would explain how important it was that their children change their attitude at school in the winter term. Parents of aggravated students had filed law suits against the Weasley twins – it was only Dumbledore's control of the matters brought before the Wizegamot that kept the twins out of Azkaban.

(~~~~)

Over half of the Hogwarts students went home for the abbreviated Yule holidays – Beauxbaton and Durmstrang students remained at the castle and observed the ceremonies with the British students. Harry arranged a series of Quidditch pickup games that were very popular and covered by the Daily Prophet – Fred and George asked permission to return early but McGonagall denied their request.

(~~~~)

In the first edition of the Daily Prophet for the new year, the paper broke a scandal that rocked Magical Britain!

 **Pumpkin Juice Debacle at Hogwarts!**

 **During the preparations for the First Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, it became known among the students at Hogwarts that they were being fed calming and loyalty potions to the Headmaster each day in their 'pumpkin juice'. Long held to be a tradition at the best school in the kingdom for young witches and wizards, pumpkin juice is rarely served at home, or in pubs and restaurants in Magical Britain.**

 **The staff at St Mungo's confirm that they use pumpkin juice to hide the taste of potions from patients without affecting the potion's ability to provide the medical fix.**

 **The Daily Prophet went to the Ministry and Gringotts for help with this 'mystery' at Hogwarts and we uncovered something very disturbing. Almost five percent of the total Hogwarts budget is allocated to the purchase of pumpkin juice and a single person owns the farms that produce the pumpkin juice. Albus Dumbledore is that wizard.**

 **And upon further investigation, the Daily Prophet has learned that Dumbledore uses free labour by Hogwarts house elves to work the farm, harvest and process the pumpkins, and deliver the pumpkin juice to the castle. The Daily Prophet asks the Wizegamot to debate the propriety of this arrangement.**

(~~~~)

Second Task

It was two weeks before the Second Task when the first crack appeared in the tentative friendship of the four contestants in the tournament. After the Yule Ball and the start of the new term, the four students met regularly to discuss spells. When Harry decided to tell Victor the clue from the golden egg, Cedric objected.

"It's not fair to give him the clue," the Hufflepuff argued. "He didn't retrieve his egg."

"Did you know about the dragons ahead of time?" asked Victor.

Cedric fell silent as Fleur said, "I think we should share information."

"Of course, you do. Harry and I are ahead of you in points for the tournament."

Dismissing the importance of the points with a wave of his hand, Victor explained, "All points do is determine the order we enter the maze in the third task."

"What maze?" asked Harry, honestly confused.

"It's not fair," Cedric said, with a slight, petulant whine in his voice. The Hufflepuff gathered his belongings and left the other three contestants.

"Harry, have none of the professors at Hogwarts told you about the tasks?" asked Fleur. When Harry shook his head, the Beauxbaton champion and Durmstrang champion both cursed in their native tongues.

"The rules stated that no one can help the contestants. I was told I had to follow the rules!" Harry declared.

"Potter, my headmaster told me about all three tasks before I placed my name into the goblet," Victor explained.

Fleur nodded. "Moi aussi. Madam Maxime told me all three tasks."

"So why hasn't anyone from Hogwarts told me?" Harry asked, feeling abandoned by the professors and headmaster of his school – again.

Fleur and Victor told Harry that for the second task, a hostage would be taken and placed underneath Black Lake that morning. And the hostage would be in danger of drowning after the expiration of the hour allowed for rescue.

"The professors tell us that the hostages are not supposed to be in danger of death, but the British Ministry wants some tragedy to sell tickets for the third task," Victor said.

(~~~~)

Knowing that some friend was in stasis underneath the water and in need of rescue, Harry chewed and swallowed the gillyweed Neville provided and then he used the jinx from the Weasley twins to transform his arms into squid tentacles and his feet into webbed duck feet. He propelled himself through the water, passing Fleur, Cedric and even the half-shark Krum to quickly reach the village of the merfolk. There he found Hermione, Neville, Gabrielle Delacour and Cho Chang tied to a pillar. Harry quickly released his two friends and Fleur's sister.

The same day as the revelations about the foreknowledge of the tasks, Harry, Fleur, and Victor agreed that whoever reached the hostages first would release all three and begin to drag them back to the shore. And they agreed that they would help each other if attacked while in the lake.

The versatile tentacles allowed Harry to hold onto all three hostages as he swam back toward the shore. Passing Cedric about halfway back, Harry found shark-head Victor and Fleur battling a pack of underwater creatures that he thought were called grindylows. With one tentacle holding all three hostages, Harry's spare tentacle made the difference in the battle – the creatures fled. The three contestants swam back to the shore with Fleur exiting the water first with Gabrielle, Victor exiting second with Hermione, and Harry thrusting Neville forward as he waited for the gillyweed to wear off.

From the shore, Neville motioned Harry to come close and he cast a spell that negated the gillyweed quickly. The three contestants were dried, warmed with hot chocolate, and knew their scores for almost fifteen minutes before Cedric returned with Cho.

The first words out of Diggory's mouth were, "They cheated!"

(~~~~)

Amos Diggory was apoplectic in his anger and he directed it completely at Harry Potter! No adult appeared to take Harry's side so the wizard felt safe attacking the fourteen-year-old.

"You cheated Potter!" the wizard yelled, turning dangerously red in the face. "The true Hogwarts champion would never help the other contestants! He would win for himself!"

Even Professor Sprout looked embarrassed at this pronouncement. Dumbledore spent his time frowning but not interfering. Reaching the end of his temper, Victor Krum stepped forward and fired a blast from his wand that stopped the conversations and yelling.

"There was no cheat!" he said clearly. "The book of rules for this tournament say that champions use their gifts in any way to accomplish each task."

"That is correct!" Barty Crouch, Sr. agreed. "Any way they want…"

"Mademoiselle Delacour, Mr. Potter, and myself worked as a team to retrieve the hostages, fight off the creatures in the lake and return with many minutes left before the hostages would drown. We worked together with our magic to accomplish task."

"Drown?!" shouted Cho. "No one said I would drown! Cedric, they almost killed me!"

"Potter is the only one who freed their hostages!" Cedric argued.

"Then he would get all the points awarded, Diggory," Victor argued. "He'll be first in the maze and reach the cup before you're allowed to set foot inside."

"Wait… how do you know about a maze already?" asked Rita Skeeter, with her quill ready.

(~~~~)

 **Tri-Wizard Corruption Widens**

 **At the conclusion of the Second Task in the Tri-Wizard Tournament yesterday, it was revealed that the three older contestants were each informed about the details of every task before their names were drawn from the Goblet of Fire. The champions of Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbaton knew about the dragons, the swim in Black Lake in February, and the forthcoming race through the maze of dangerous creatures to reach the cup that will signify the winner before they placed their names into the Cauldron of Fire.**

 **The only contestant to not have this knowledge ahead of the original selection was Harry Potter – his claims of being entered against his will seem more credible with each passing event. Examination of the rule book reveals that the judges could have excused Mr. Potter at any time before the first task.**

 **So it appears that the ministry officials and Headmaster Dumbledore forced Mr. Potter to participate – and increase the public's interest in the tournament.**

 **On another note, why did no one at Hogwarts tell Mr. Potter about all the information that the other contestants had? Even Mr. Diggory knew about the dragons, the rescue under lake, and the forthcoming maze months ago.**

 **Headmaster Dumbledore refused to answer questions, while Deputy Headmistress McGonagall duelled with Professor Sprout and threatened the greenhouses. Mr. Amos Diggory was arrested for threatening this reporter's life.**

 **Reporters for the continental magical papers made extensive photographs and conducted long interviews with everyone who would talk with them.**

(~~~~)

Albus Dumbledore was a powerful wizard and even at 120, he was nimble on his feet and with his strange wand. But like many elderly witches and wizards, he was slower in the morning until he stretched and dressed for the day. Some way or another, someone opened an owl window in the headmaster's office sometime each night and with the first light of dawn each day for the next thirty days, howlers woke the headmaster.

Sirius Black sent the most howlers blaming Dumbledore for involving Harry with the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Many other people sent howlers as well and Dobby congratulated himself on finding ways to slip the owls through Dumbledore's wards each night.

(~~~~)

Third Task

The night of the third task, the British Ministry had monkeyed with the results and rules enough that no one knew who was first, second or third in the standings. Dumbledore and the other judges decided to allow all four contestants to enter the maze at the same time – they argued for three days if there should be four separate entrances or a single entrance before finally agreeing to stop arguing and leave the maze with a single entrance. The four contestants met informally and agreed to travel through the maze as a team and take the cup together.

There were giant mirrors set up to show each contestant's progress and consequently, the audience watched all four champions battle the beasts in the maze including the blasted-end skrewts (now extinct), boggarts, and trolls (three of them). When the contestants came to the Sphinx, they went around another corner and blasted their way through the maze with fire and banishing charms.

When they reached the centre of the maze, the four champions found four of the giant Acromantula waiting with webs spun to capture their next meal.

"Blast their legs!" Harry shouted. "They have no balance without all eight legs."

The four contestants made excellent progress against the spiders when suddenly Victor was enchanted with a spell and he dropped to his knees. Fleur was next to fall but there were two spiders left to disable.

"Cedric, something happened to Fleur and Victor! Blast the spiders!" shouted Harry.

"Remember Potter, champions can use their gifts in any way to accomplish each task," the Puff said as he threw a spell at Harry and ran toward the cup.

"No!" Harry yelled as he upped the power in his blasting spells and threw the final two spiders completely out of the maze and into the seats reserved for the Minister of Magic and the judges. He ran after the Hufflepuff champion and grabbed hold of Cedric's legs just as the wizard reached the cup. The portkey took them both away from Hogwarts.

(~~~~)

When the portkey deposited Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory roughly on the ground, the two teenagers rolled away from the tournament cup. Harry clinched his wand in this hand and searched for Cedric. He found the Puff to his left behind a large headstone that engraved with the name 'Tom Riddle'.

Diggory stared at the things around him; the dark graveyard and silence told him this was not part of the third task.

"Cedric!" Harry hissed from his right side. "Did Sprout say anything about a fourth task?"

"No…" Cedric replied with a shaky voice. The Puff began searching in the grass for the cup. "Gotta get out of here! Where's the cup?"

Harry scuttled between the headstones, heading toward the panicking Puff. "We can get back…"

"Harry Potter! At last! I have waited the entire year for your visit!" announced a squeaky voice.

"Accio cup!" commanded Cedric. He glanced at Harry as the tournament cup rose from the grass and flew toward the Hogwarts champion.

"No! Don't leave me!" Harry hissed in a desperate whisper but Cedric grabbed the cup that brought them to this graveyard, willing to leave Harry behind.

As the port key took Cedric away to safety, he heard Harry hissing again; but this time it was to curse in parseltongue, {Cowardly chicken! Anyone who calls you 'brave' will cluck for a day and you will know that you are a coward!}

"Now that was surprizing!" the squeaky voice added. "Does parseltongue give you an advantage against your pureblood rivals in Hogwarts?"

Refusing to remain still any longer, Harry tried to move between the headstones but a second wizard behind him cast a stunning spell. When the teenager opened his eyes again, Harry found himself tied to the headstone engraved with the name 'Tom Riddle'. To aggravate his aching head, that squeaky voice returned, "Welcome to Little Hangleton, Harry Potter. This is the final resting place of my unfortunate, muggle father."

"But now that my loyal servant at Hogwarts has sent you to me, I have everything needed to regain my body!"

"What do you mean, Tom? You're dead!" Harry argued.

The second wizard that stunned him turned out to be Peter Pettigrew who now lifted an infant sized figure and allowed the two wizards to see each other. Harry recoiled in horror – the rotten infant corpse was covered with scales and the mouth was fanged.

"Ah, Potter, you see I am anchored to life and cannot die! I am immortal!" the voice announced as the death eater

"As a reptile-baby?" asked Harry. "How will that help you gain followers? People don't like snakes!"

"Silence Potter! Wormtail, begin the ritual!"

"As you command, master," Peter responded as he summoned potion bottles, and poured their contents into the cauldron. He summoned several metal buckets with liquids that he dumped into the cauldron without stirring.

' _This will be a giant mess_ ,' Harry realized and wondered how to move behind the tombstone before the cauldron exploded. The teenager gazed about – there were many neutralizing grasses growing in the graveyard and he summoned blades of grass and sent them to the liquids Peter was pouring into the bubbling cauldron. The silent spells of Severus Snape were contaminating Pettigrew's resurrection potion.

Without fail, Peter used a large, wooden paddle to stir the cauldron each time but he propped the tool on the ground continually. With a sticking charm, Harry attached small pebbles, dirt, and grass that were added each time the rat-man stirred the potion.

Then the squeaky voice said, "The boy's blood! Get it for my new body!"

Harry struggled but Wormtail used a long, sharp knife to cut Harry's arm, and then he collected the boy's blood in a dirty potion bottle. As Peter poured the blood into the cauldron, the glass bottle with blood and dirt slipped from the rat-man's fingers and into the bubbling potion. The look on the rat man's face was comical as the knife also slipped from his slick hand and fell into the cauldron.

Glancing at the homunculus on the ground who continued to issue orders in his squeaky voice, Peter pretended that everything was proceeding exactly as planned.

With no one paying attention to him, Harry concentrated on the coals below the cauldron and cast a cooling charm on the side away from Peter and the Dark Lord Homunculus. The potion boiled on the side facing Pettigrew but barely bubbled on the opposite side. The rat-man failed to notice the problem as he continued stirring with the dirty paddle.

Peter was so distracted that he failed to remember to add the 'bone of the father' and it lay in the fire underneath the cauldron.

Harry watched Peter carefully. The death eater closed his eyes occasionally and his lips moved as he recited the recipe for the potion. The captured teenager used those moments to vary the fire underneath the cauldron and reverse the direction of the stirring.

"Well, Peter?" asked the squeaky voice. "Is it ready? The potion should be bright blue now…

Harry couldn't help himself – he snorted. The potion in the cauldron was a rolling boil of red and brown. Without hesitating, Peter slipped the homunculus into the bubbling cauldron that began to react violently. Using a charm, the rat man used a cutting charm to cut off his own hand over the cauldron. But the hand fell to the ground and Peter had to drop his wand to pick up – his sacrifice – with a few coals clinging to it that he left as he dropped the hand it into the cauldron. The rat-man hurried to grab his wand, cast a charm on his wrist to stop the flow of blood, and then slide the wand into a pocket in his robes.

Harry grinned and whispered, "Magic hear me and remember that basilisk venom explodes when heated and phoenix tears cause remorse for a wizard's transgressions against every innocent person they wronged."

Ignoring Harry, Peter called, "Rise Voldemort! Rise!"

From the depths of the cauldron, a terrible figure with long limbs and a grassy pelt rose for a moment. Peter and Harry both froze, staring at the monster but the paws of the creation tore at its own chest and ripped out its heart before sliding back under the potion.

Again, Peter called, "Rise Voldemort! Rise!"

This time, the figure that rose from the cauldron was almost human but it withered in agony as the basilisk venom in Harry's blood ripped the limbs and trunk apart while the phoenix blood distracted Tom Riddle's soul from harnessing his power – the faces and screams of his innocent victims tore through his mind.

Now Harry cast the silent charm to super heat the cauldron, and the boiling magic in the cauldron formed new body after new body for Voldemort but each time the basilisk venom ripped it apart – the knife Peter dropped into the potion flickered again and again as magic used it to slice away new arms and legs. The cauldron flung out a discarded foot or a hand occasionally. Wormtail picked up one hand and attempted to attach it to his own wrist.

With Voldemort's distress growing, Harry froze as a large snake approached the cauldron and rose above it, hissing with offers of aide for the form struggling in the potion.

{Negali, get me out!} commanded the latest figure in the cauldron, but when the creature attempted to coil around the figure that rose from the potion, the snake was pulled into the cauldron as well.

This time Harry called out, "Try again Tom! See what you feel this time! Rise!"

Peter froze and stared at Harry Potter. The ritual had been corrupted, contaminated beyond redemption; if any 'thing' stepped from the cauldron, it would tear Peter Pettigrew limb from limb.

Now, there was a terrible scream as an inky black smudge of smoke rose from the carcass of the snake only to plunge back into the cauldron to try and save Tom Riddle's soul. This time, the figure rose, stood long enough to snarl at Peter Pettigrew and reach for him. The rat man threw the discarded hand at the figure, and turned to run screaming into the graveyard.

In the cauldron, the horcrux from the snake called to the other pieces of Tom's soul to aide in the resurrection of the Dark Lord Voldemort as the latest form was ripped apart by the basilisk venom.

(~~~~)

End of Tom Riddle

In Gringotts Bank emergency alarms blared as goblins rushed to grab their knives and axes to defend the bank! Wizards and witches were forced through the front doors which were firmly locked and the goblins listened carefully. From deep within the bank, they heard pounding as someone or something beat on the inside door of a vault. The dragon in the deepest level of the bank roared and there was a blast as a vault door blew open.

Goblins rushed down in the tunnels to calm the dragon but several of the little cars were upended by the magical object flying through the tunnels and goblins fell to their deaths. In the lobby, the goblins on guard had a brief view of a goblet flying around the chamber for a moment before it burst through the roof, shattering glass and frames made of silver.

(~~~~)

From the ruins of a shack in Little Hangleton, a ring burst through the rotten floor boards with enough force to shatter the wards and the worm-eaten boards. The roof collapsed inward and the last vestiges of the Gaunt family fell to the ground.

(~~~~)

There was a loud crack as a window in No.12 Grimmauld Place busted outwards – a small object had flown up from the cellars and out through a window next to the front door. The portrait of Walburga Black in this ancestral London home of the family heard the house elf crying about losing Master Regulus's locket but in her portrait, there was nothing she could do but listen until someone opened the curtains.

(~~~~)

Hogwarts had a stomach ache – something rotten was rumbling and working its way to the top of the Room of Requirement before being expelled. Rather than creating a doorway in the hallway, a window appeared in the wall of the Room of Requirement and a lady's diadem flew out into the night sky.

In another part of the castle, the desk in the headmaster's office shook and moved back and forth. The inhabitants of the portraits fled as the desk began to slam into the walls – the portrait frame of Phineas Black was shattered and he would be confined to No.12 Grimmauld Place henceforth. The desk slammed into the wall once again and shattered, opening a locked drawer.

The ruined diary rose from the shattered desk and rocketed out of the office, bursting through an ancient, stain-glassed window.

(~~~~)

In the graveyard, Harry felt his scar burn as a dark mist spilled from his head and flew toward the cauldron. Through the air, the teenager watched as several objects arrived to hover over the cauldron – the diary from second year, a bejewelled head piece, a ring, an ornate cup, and a small locket. The items swirled around with the black cloud that came out of Harry's scar before they fell into the cauldron that continued to bubble and boil.

(~~~~)

The cauldron's contents smoked and splashed – Harry saw the form of an elderly wizard rise and attempt to grab the sides but the man was pulled back and disappeared under the bubbling mixture. Then a young wizard appeared and grabbed the side of the cauldron – this was the face of the young Tom Riddle that Harry recognized from the Chamber of Secrets. But before Tom could climb out, the basilisk venom tore him apart and pulled him under again.

Harry used the wandless charms to cut the ropes binding him to the headstone, but kept an eye on the cauldron; as the fire underneath died, the figure could only lift a hand or his head above the bubbling mixture for shorter times. Finally, the potion turned into a grey sludge and the bubbles ceased. The teenager felt several wards fall around him as the last bubbles rose from the cauldron.

Freeing himself, Harry immediately searched for Peter Pettigrew and found the unconscious wizard a few metres away. He flipped Pettigrew onto his stomach and used the ropes he'd cut to tie the man's hands together. Keeping a knee in the wizard's back, Harry searched the filthy robes to find his own wand, Tom Riddles' wand, and finally Peter's wand. The two spare wands went into a hidden pocket in his robes, and his own wand was used to tie the traitor up with additional ropes.

There was a loud pop and Harry fell back, but his wand was steady and threatening the source of the noise.

"Mr. Potter! Are you well?" asked Ragnock, Director of Vaults underneath Gringotts. Harry took a deep breath – he recognized the goblin from their meeting in the Chamber of Secrets – the chief goblin arrived with thirty warriors armed with axe and knife.

"I will be, Director! I will be!" Harry insisted, glad to see the armed guards surround the graveyard.

"There was a breakout from the vaults and our magic traced the object here." Ragnock looked about and added, "Wherever the hell this place is…"

(~~~~)

Harry quickly explained the events of the third task that led to this 'fourth task'.

"I'll share my memory with you and you can identify the objects that arrived here. The only one I recognize was the diary from my second year," Harry explained.

"And Diggory ran away? Left you to face the Dark Lord alone?"

Harry frowned and nodded. "I dealt with him."

"But he won the Tri-Wizard Tournament!" Ironstream announced. "News reached the ministry and then Gringotts about five minutes before we left to search for the object."

"He can have the victory," Harry said, slashing his hand down to cut off the argument. "No one will remember his name in ten years and his father will waste the winner's purse on new wardrobes for the family."

Ragnock and Ironstream exchanged glances – the young wizard was correct. They turned their attention to the cauldron that was rapidly cooling in the night air.

The goblins took the memory from Harry's mind and viewed it several times. While he waited for Ragnock and Ironstream to talk to him, Harry called for Dobby who popped into the graveyard with six other elves, each armed with kitchen cleavers and ladles.

"Mr. Harry Potter must call Dobby soonest next time he fights Dark Lords!" the little elf insisted. "All house elves ready to come to fight beside best wizard in thousand years!"

While they waited for the goblins to scout the area for threats, Harry asked, "What's happening at Hogwarts?"

With a deep frown on his face, Dobby announced, "Mr. Whiskers says Pretty Boy is winner of Three-Wizardses Games. There is party but Miss Flower and Mr. Kroom demands that someone looks for our Mr. Harry Potters."

"And what did Mr. Whiskers do? What did the other adults do?"

"Mr. Whiskers says Three-Wizards Games over and Mr. Potter will return in times."

Dobby's frown grew deeper as he said, "Mr. Greenthumbs, Professor Charms, Miss Knows-All, Professor Kitty, Miss Flower, and Mr. Kroom all yells at Mr. Whiskers. Mr. Mad-Eyes Moody in polyjuice pants begins laughing. He says, 'Dark Lord has Potter now!' and tries to runs away."

The little elf sniffed in a most dismissive manner before continuing, "Dobby trips, ties up, and delivers bad wizard to Miss Bones just as polyjuice pants disappear. She makes very mad face when she sees his face, and takes him away to ministries magical."

"So, no one is looking for me?" Harry asked, his face growing angry.

The little elf shook his head sadly, "Only house elves looks for Mr. Harry Potter."

"Mr. Potter," interrupted Ragnock. "This will work to our advantage."

(~~~~)

Harry Potter Returns

The sun was up and bright when Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts. He appeared outside the gates and called Hedwig to him. She delivered a quick note to Hagrid's hut and the half-giant hurried to unlock the gates while still in his dressing robe.

"Harry! I am so glad to see you!" Hagrid exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Morning, Hagrid! How is Madam Maxime?" the teenager asked as Hagrid blushed.

At the door, Harry and Hagrid had no trouble entering and the teenage wizard went into the Great Hall, hopeful of finding some breakfast. Hermione and Neville rose from their seats at Gryffindor to run up and hug their friend. Ron thought about joining them but settled for more bacon and pancakes.

When he noticed the headmaster making his way to the Gryffindor table, Harry slipped around the other students, and the Hufflepuff table to visit Fleur at the Ravenclaw table.

"Harry Potter! Toi mauvais garçon! J'étais inquiet ! Êtes-vous bien?" she said rapidly as she took him into her arms for a hug and kiss on each cheek. (You bad boy! I was worried! Are you well?)

"Bonjour Mademoiselle," he replied with a grin. "I am glad to see you."

"Hurry, le vieilles whiskers approaches," she warned in his ear. (the old whiskers)

This time Harry threaded his way through the students between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables, and ignored Dumbledore's commands to halt. At the head table, Harry greeted his favourite professors – Flitwick, Tonks, McGonagall, and Sinistra – with a cheery smile and 'Hello!' He ignored Sprout who could not keep the sour look from her face; Potter returning meant explanations from Cedric.

Then Harry hurried to the Slytherin table. Professor Sinistra caught the eye of her prefects and they acknowledged her unspoken command to protect the Gryffindor while he was at the table. Harry went straight to Victor for a friendly hug and query, "Are you well, Potter? You vanished with Diggory but only 'he' came back!"

"I am well, Krum. There was a cauldron with a bad potion in it that I had to deal with before I could leave."

"It took all this time to clean up a bad potion?"

Harry nodded. "I had help and everything is good."

Glancing around again, Harry hurried away as the headmaster rounded the corner of the Slytherin table. In his attempt to stop Harry, Dumbledore cast several petrification spells that caught Slytherin students instead of the teenager with seeker's reflexes.

Aggravated at the headmaster, Professor Sinistra rose from her seat and cast the same petrification spell at the headmaster. He cast a spell to shield himself from her spells but didn't see the foot that Gregory Goyle stuck out to trip him, sending him to the floor where Sinistra's next spell caught him and transfigured him into a donkey with long, furry ears.

At the head table, Flitwick commented, "I had forgotten how talented Felicity is. We must advance her position here at Hogwarts."

"She would make an excellent transfiguration professor," Minerva admitted, imaging herself as headmistress. Her eyes narrowed before she said, "Still a white mouse would offer more entertainment for my animagus form."

(~~~~)

Harry retreated to his dormitory room for a breakfast delivered by Dobby. He slept the entire day undisturbed because house elves confounded anyone who attempted to climb the stairs to the boys' dormitory in Gryffindor. Refreshed, Harry reappeared when it was time for supper.

By agreement with the staff, Dumbledore 'requested' an interview with Mr. Potter that would be supervised by all the faculty in the Great Hall. Reporters from the Daily Prophet were invited by Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra.

"Now, the children and the members of the press will retire before I question, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore announced after deserts were finished and the table cleared.

"Why?" asked Sprout. "The boy can't have any tale to tell that isn't for everyone to hear."

"I agree," Minerva added. "Mr. Potter, tell us what happened when you left the Quidditch Pitch with Mr. Diggory."

"What did Mr. Diggory report?" asked Harry.

"That isn't important," Dumbledore interrupted. "Just tell us what happened."

With a smirk that reminded McGonagall and Flitwick of his father's face, Harry explained, "The cup in the maze was a port key to a graveyard far from Hogwarts. There was a second obstacle course of headstones – it was a muggle cemetery – with a cauldron filled with a nasty potion to banish."

Harry glanced at the Hufflepuff table and with a clear, emotionless voice explained, "Cedric summoned the port key and left. Left me there alone… and I had to banish the potion."

"There wasn't any a fourth task," Sprout insisted. "You're trying to steal the championship!"

Fleur and Victor both rose to protest the claim and Dumbledore's frown was very unpleasant to see. But Harry waved everyone to be quiet before he replied, "Professor Sprout, I will never dispute Mr. Diggory's victory. He was the first contestant to return to the judges with the cup. He used his gifts to get to the cup in the maze and then to return to the judges. He fulfilled the requirements to win the Tri-Wizard Championship."

"Where was this cemetery? What was the potion? Was anyone else there?" Dumbledore insisted on knowing.

Rather than answer, Harry asked, "Why didn't you come look for me professor? The Daily Prophet reported a wild story from Professor Moody that he sent me to the Dark Lord for a resurrection ritual. Once Cedric returned, why didn't you come looking for me?"

Flustered with the question, Dumbledore replied, "The portkey on the cup was corrupted by the trip; there was no way to trace you…"

"Hippogriff feathers!" shouted Krum. "The trace of the portkey would tell you the location for an hour!"

Dumbledore nodded, "But more than an hour passed before things were settled here at Hogwarts. I did not want to steal Mr. Diggory's thunder."

"Voler le tonnerre?" shouted Fleur, her hands beginning to smoke with fire balls threatening to erupt. "Excuses! Vous êtes lâche! Harry Potter is…" (Steal the thunder? You are coward!)

"Mademoiselle, you forget yourself!" Dumbledore shouted.

"Non," interrupted Madam Maxime, "Mon jeune étudiant est correcte. Vous êtes lâche." (My young student is correct. You are coward!)

At this point, Dumbledore and Madam Maxime began an exchange of insults that led to spells being thrown about the Great Hall. In the end, Madam Maxime threw Dumbledore's throne against the wall of the Great Hall so hard that it splintered and could not be repaired. The fact that the headmaster was still in the throne when she threw it made the feat of strength more remarkable. Amid shouts and more spells being thrown about, the students were evacuated, and Dumbledore was once again transfigured into a jackass but with a long beard this time.

(~~~~)

By the time he reverted to his normal form, the Daily Prophet's next edition was on the presses. The whole of Magical Britain was forced to watch the headmaster of Hogwarts transfigured into the form of a donkey on the front page with an animated headline that also transformed.

' **Dumbledore Named Coward!'** was the first version of the headline. As the picture transformed, the headline also transformed to **'Dumbledore a Jackass!'**

(~~~~)

Epilogue Part 1

It was another day before the whole of magical Britain celebrated Cedric Diggory's victory in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. At Hogwarts, the students waited in the Great Hall for the champion to arrive so that breakfast could be served.

At every table, students shared the morning paper; on the front page, The Daily Prophet carried the Puff's photo with the bag of galleons and the Tri-Wizard cup in his hands. Standing behind Cedric were Amos Diggory, the champion's insufferable father, alongside a perplexed Albus Dumbledore, and a smirking Cornelius Fudge.

With a similar smirk on his face, Harry Potter folded up his copy of the paper and lifted his cup of orange juice to his lips – Dobby protected his food and drink from potions and everyone knew that orange juice did not hide the taste of potions like pumpkin juice did.

"Sorry you didn't win the tournament," said Neville from his left side. "What happened? Something about a graveyard?"

"Yeah," Ron Weasley added. "Those big mirrors showed you and Diggory grabbing the cup at the same time."

"But then Diggory was the only one who showed up at the judge's tent. What happened?" asked Hermione from Harry's right side.

At just that moment, the door to the Great Hall opened and Pomona Sprout led in the students from Hufflepuff, with Cedric Diggory waving to the other students, most of whom cheered for him.

Remembering the parseltongue spell he'd placed on Diggory, Harry grinned and explained to Hermione in a clear voice, "Yes, there was another part of the third task and Diggory 'got out first'."

"What happened?" asked Ron, glad to be welcomed back into the circle around Harry Potter.

Harry shrugged. "Like I explained to the headmaster yesterday, it was a challenge to get around some headstones in graveyard. Cedric got to the cup before I did. He left me there…"

Neville watched Harry's eyes and knew there was more to the story, and he reached over to squeeze Hermione's arm – a signal they had agreed to that would stop conversations with a large audience.

However, their conversation close enough to the Hufflepuff table that the newly arrived champion heard Harry's words about 'got out first' and the seventh-year champion blushed redder than Ron Weasley ever managed.

Amid the congratulations and clapping, Professor Sprout of Hufflepuff made her way to the head table and everyone prepared to eat when the strangest thing happened; Cho Chang stepped over to the Hufflepuff table and praised Cedric saying, "He won the tournament because he is smart, powerful and brave…"

Cho was looking at Cedric as she made this statement and leaned in for a kiss. As her lips drew close and everyone in the Great Hall watched, Cedric Diggory clucked.

Cho and everyone – including Cedric – paused, thinking they'd not heard properly. Then Cedric opened his mouth to speak, but once again, he 'clucked'.

Her face red with embarrassment, Cho fled the Great Hall, and Cedric called out to her, but every time he opened his mouth, everyone heard, "Cluck, cluck, cluck."

Seeing his girlfriend flee, the Hogwarts champion grew excited and crowed like a rooster in the early morning hours. With his back to the Hufflepuff table, Harry looked over his shoulder with the same look of surprize as Neville and Hermione. Across the table, Ron laughed at the Hufflepuff's embarrassment. Professor Sprout returned to the table and attempted to remove the jinx on Cedric but every spell she tried slid off and evaporated.

"George and Fred cast a good one this time!" Ron announced to everyone at the table – including his older twin brothers. Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore arrived at the table and consulted with Professor Sprout.

"Did you try the 'cleanse and dry' charm?" asked Dumbledore.

Sprout's face turned sour, "Cedric's been jinxed, not rolled in the mud!"

"But the Weasley twins base many of their charms on household charms, it might work," Dumbledore announced, giving away one of Fred and George's secrets.

Frowning while Cedric began clucking again, Professor Sprout cast the standard household cleaning charm on her seventh-year wizard and everyone watched while the boy crowed continually as the charm 'cleansed and dried' his body. Cedric wouldn't stop crowing as the professors continued their discussion about his condition. When Professor Sprout turned toward Cedric again, he dove underneath the table.

McGonagall frowned and turned her gaze toward the Weasley twins. George and Fred protested their innocence but Ron shouted, "You made Chicken Clucking Cherries two years ago. I clucked like a chicken every day that summer! Remember?"

"How do we remove the charm from Mr. Diggory?" McGonagall asked the twin terrors of Gryffindor.

"We didn't…"

"You use that jinx on me all the time!" insisted Ron.

With a look that promised payback for their younger brother, Fred and George continued to claim they were innocent; nonetheless, they were declared to be the responsible culprits.

"Come with me," McGonagall ordered the twins. "We'll see what your mother has to say about this."

While Dumbledore returned to the head table, McGonagall and Sprout escorted Cedric to the infirmary with Fred and George following behind.

"Where do they come up with those terrible names?" Hermione asked Harry and Neville. Ron ignored the others now with the food before them.

"Fred and George have been rough this year," Harry said. "I had duck feet three times."

"And I had porcupine quills hair twice!" Hermione reminded them.

Ron laughed at that memory, spewing food across the table; scrambled eggs covered the three Gryffindor student sitting opposite the red-head. "Yeah, you shot quills into everyone both days. Flitwick wasn't happy when he had to cancel charms class!"

(~~~~)

For the rest of the day, Cedric Diggory clucked like a chicken while Madam Pomphrey attempted to remove the jinx. Molly Weasley was summoned to Hogwarts and told about the twin's latest trickery. Even she was unable to relieve Cedric's problem and the twins returned to the Gryffindor tower just before curfew but they spoke to no one.

At breakfast on the third morning after the Third Task, word spread that Cedric's voice returned to normal. He arrived with Professor Sprout who carried her wand in her hand and kept her eye on the Weasley twins. When it appeared that everyone in the Great Hall was finished with breakfast, the Headmaster Dumbledore stood and called for the attention of his students.

"Good morning! Good morning!" Albus announced cheerfully and let his gaze linger briefly on Slytherin as the fourth table only grew silent after they drew the attention of the head table. Professor Sinistra would have words with the 'Gryffindors in Green and Silver' as she called them.

"This morning, we want to recognize the Hogwarts Champion of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Hufflepuff's Cedric Diggory!" Albus announced. He motioned for Cedric to stand and approach the head table. The tall Hufflepuff rose and quickly walked to the table and stood in front of the headmaster.

"Let everyone in Britain recognize Mr. Diggory as the champion! His bravery…" Dumbledore seemed to choke for a moment, cleared his throat and continued… "Cluck! Cluck!"

For a moment, the Great Hall was silent, everyone stared at the headmaster. Albus grinned, cleared his throat, and began again.

"Cluck, cluck, cluck," the great wizard spouted the poultry sounds and there were giggles from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. His face growing sour, Dumbledore wanted to say he'd deal with this trickster harshly but everyone in the Great Hall heard the old rooster crow.

From the head table, McGonagall's face threatened pain and torture for the Weasley twins who exchanged a single glance. Rising from the Gryffindor table, Fred and George fled the Great Hall without a vocal discussion. There were two days left before the Hogwarts Express returned to London but they had no intention of waiting for the train; they would leave from the Gryffindor tower on their brooms within the hour.

Again, no one could lift the jinx from Dumbledore. Just before lunch, the headmaster attempted to write some instructions on parchment and handed the paper to Minerva. Glancing over the page, the deputy headmistress sighed and shook her head.

"This chicken scratch makes no sense, Albus!"

(~~~~)

It was at breakfast the fourth morning after the final task in the tournament, the day before the end of term, that Professor Sprout managed to recognize Cedric as the winner of the Tri-Wizard Tournament without anyone clucking like a chicken.

"Cedric, Hufflepuff is proud of you! You used your magic and your brain to win the Tri-Wizard Tournament," she announced. "Everyone saw you grab the cup in the maze and then appear at the judge's stand – the winner!"

Ignoring the fact that Harry had travelled with Cedric and then been 'left', Sprout continued praising the Puff. Harry sat with his back to the head table and to Hufflepuff. When Dumbledore called for everyone to raise their glass to salute Cedric's victory, the teenager kept his head buried in the book on ancient runes.

Fleur and Victor said their good-byes the night before; they were polite with Cedric but nothing familiar or warm. With Harry, both champions issued invitations to visit over the summer as they hugged him warmly.

(~~~~)

Students met with their teachers for a last time that day to receive their summer assignments. In the hallway between History and DADA classrooms, Cedric hurried to catch up with Cho; she'd forgiven his 'clucking' but remained 'high maintenance' as a girlfriend. The champion wasn't watching and ran into a group of the fourth year Gryffindor students. Neville and Harry ended up on the floor, and Hermione was slammed against the wall. Missing the tumble, Ron stood to one side laughing.

"Watch where you're going!" Cedric admonished the Lions.

Neville blushed but from his spot on the floor, Harry narrowed his eyes and clearly said, "Cluck!"

Already headed away, the Puff heard the sound and froze momentarily before turning back.

"Cluck! Cluck!" whispered Harry, catching Cedric's eye. The Puff stepped back as his competitor from the Tri-Wizard Tournament rose from the floor and took one step forward. This time Harry was louder, "Cluck! Cluck!"

"No. I'm sorry…" mumbled the Puff.

"CLUCK!" Harry shouted before Cedric turned and ran down the hallway.

"Well, something about Cedric must be contagious," Hermione suggested.

"I think you're right," Harry replied. The look of surprize on the faces of his friends made Harry grin before he said, "Oops… Cluck!"

"Wait," Hermione said. "Are you jinxed now or not?"

"Cluck," was Harry's answer.

Ron frowned and said, "Does this mean you're a chicken-tongue now too?"

Neville, Harry and Hermione frowned as Ron blushed bright red while trying to explain, "Harry speaks snake… why couldn't he be a chicken-speaker too?"

(~~~~)

Flashback (Evening of the Third Task)

In the graveyard, the goblins established a secure perimeter and cast strong notice-me-not spells as well as anti-apparition and portkey wards. When they were relatively assured of their safety, the goblins brought out a pensive and taking a copy of Harry's memory, the goblins spent many minutes reviewing it.

Ragnock, Ironstream and the goblin magical wielders talked in their own language for almost an hour after viewing Harry's memory of the botched resurrection ritual. Dobby and the other house elves cast several spells at the cold cauldron to maintain it in stasis.

When he realized what the elves were doing, Harry thanked each elf personally.

While they waited, Harry asked for tea and biscuits. The elves popped to Hogwarts and returned with a full feast for Harry as well as platters of beef sandwiches and tankards of ale for the goblins. Once they emerged from the pensive, the goblins ate and Harry found his appetite – there were happy elves who popped empty dishes back to the kitchens.

Several goblins moved to the cauldron and began casting spells while two others examined the trussed-up Peter Pettigrew.

A messenger arrived from Gringotts and the news made Ragnock angry; the goblin cursed in his own language for a considerable time. Ironstream whispered to Harry, "I have never seen the Director of Vaults underneath Gringotts lose his temper. The message must be very disturbing."

Eventually Ragnock calmed enough to explain. "Goblins died tonight in Gringotts! That damn cup burst from the vault of Bellatrix LeStrange and it flew up the tunnels and overturned four carts on the tracks. Seven goblins fell to their deaths and three others were injured severely."

"Confiscate the entire vault!" Ironstream demanded. "Issue death warrants for all three members of the LeStrange family! The guards at Azkaban will kill them to receive the bounty!"

"Neville and his grandmother will approve," Harry informed the goblins.

Then he asked, "What was the cup? And the other things? What was that smoke that came out of my scar?"

Ragnock and Ironstream carefully explained horcruxes to Harry but the boy still lost the contents of his stomach. They explained the significance of the different items, each lost in the botched ritual.

"He killed my mother and used her death to make me his horcrux!" Harry yelled. Dobby and the other elves all hugged Harry as he cried – one elf went for a calming draught.

After the draught calmed him down, Harry asked, "Who knew about these things? Who left them in the world after the Dork Lord died?"

Ironstream smiled and replied, "The highest-ranking Death Eaters knew for certain. But they never attempted to bring back the Dark Lord until Malfoy sent the diary to Hogwarts in your second year."

"And Dumbledore…" Ragnock said. "The headmaster knew. That's why he left you with muggles. He couldn't take a chance on a decent magical person examining you before you were older. There had to be a dark aura around you for two or three years."

"How do I declare blood-feud with Dumbledore?" asked Harry the two goblins.

Laughing gleefully, Ironstream announced, "Ragnock, you must make me the account manager for Mr. Potter!"

"And you will allow your client to declare blood feud with Whiskers?"

The younger goblin moved to stand beside Harry and face the director. "My client is an intelligent wizard with a great deal to learn but his heart is goblin! Whiskers can suffer for many years with Mr. Potter's fingers pulling strings…"

"Explain," Ragnock said as Ironstream and Harry shared a glance.

"The pumpkin juice scandal can be blown up and drain Dumbledore's vaults," Harry said. "I can do interviews on my muggle relatives and blame the headmaster for all the abuse…"

Ragnock nodded once slowly as he added, "Another lawsuit against Dumbledore – eventually the Weasleys will be ruined by the flood of lawsuits against the twins and enough people are naming Dumbledore as co-conspirator to get him disqualified from blocking the suits from the Wizegamot."

"And Dumbledore will begin to search for the signs of the return of the Dark Lord. He will be after Mr. Potter for a memory of the attempt to bring Tom Riddle back," Ironstream said. "With the heir ring on his finger, the headmaster will find Mr. Potter's mind closed to him."

"But how do we make the Death Eaters pay?" Harry wanted to know. "What can we do to them?"

"What are your requirements, young Potter?"

"No one innocent gets hurt; only the guilty pay."

"Do you want them dead?"

"No, but… something like losing their magic," Harry said. "All the wizards say that's worse than dying!"

"It is dangerous to call for magic's judgement upon others," Ragnock explained.

One of the goblin magic users stepped closer and said, "Director, we believe that Mr. Potter has in his possession the perfect magic to bring judgement upon each Death Eater as an individual."

"What magical panacea exists that can do this?" demanded the director.

The squat goblin grinned and pointed their attention to cauldron. "Dark Lord Soup! They won't be able to resist the pull of the Dark Lord that exists in that cauldron!"

"Ugh," Harry said. "Soup? You mean they'll eat it?"

Ironstream began talking at that point, "We skim liquid off the top. Mix it with some quality wine and bottle it as one of those vintages the purebloods like so much. Ingested by marked Death Eaters, they will face the same judgement as the Dark Lord."

"But what if there are people at the table who are not Death Eaters?"

Ragnock and Ironstream grimaced, but the squat goblin replied, "They may feel remorse for evil deeds committed but none of them would be ripped apart."

"Do it," Harry said.

"And we'll make money! The vintage was hidden in the LeStrange vault… no a lost vault that was discovered while repairing the damage caused by the LeStrange vault. Only five hundred years so the ministry can't claim it… An auction to sell individual bottles," Ironstream grinned and Harry laughed. The goblins were happy when they plotted to make money.

"Now… Harry needs to get back to Hogwarts and we must decide what do we do with Peter Pettigrew," observed Ragnock.

(~~~~)

Epilogue Part 2

With the Potter heir ring on his finger, Harry sent Vernon Dursley on his way at the train station. He left the station with Neville Longbottom for the summer and behind the powerful wards of Longbottom Manor, Dumbledore was unable to reach the boy. Augusta Longbottom refused to allow Dumbledore into her home and avoided him at the Wizegamot.

Desperate to gain control of Harry Potter and learn the details of the defunct retrial after the third task, the headmaster attempted to introduce a bill to mandate an Auror raid on the Longbottom home to retrieve Harry. Augusta Longbottom accused the Chief Warlock of planning an attack like the LeStrange family on her manor. This proved to be the final straw for Amelia Bones and Cornelius Fudge – Albus Dumbledore lost his seat as Chief Wizard and protection against law suits that position afforded him.

(~~~~)

With a mountain of lawsuits now looming over the twins, the entire Weasley family fled to France and then disappeared into Spain. In the muggle post, Hermione received one letter from Ginny that the family was moving to America but the girl didn't know where. Before Christmas, Bill and Percy followed their parents and siblings into the magical societies of the New World.

(~~~~)

With the continued problems of lawsuits, Dumbledore called in his last favours and managed to avoid Azkaban. His vaults were hit hard with judgements against him that awarded Harry Potter all the funds removed from the Potter vaults during Dumbledore's tenure as guardian.

(~~~~)

The trials of Barty Crouch, Jr. and Peter Pettigrew made a hero of Minister Cornelius Fudge. The minister lay all the blame on the previous minister, declared Sirius Black to be a free man, and expected to be re-elected in two years without opposition.

(~~~~)

Sirius Black spent three weeks in St. Mungo's but once he was released, he assumed guardianship of his godson, sued the muggles who abused the boy, sued Dumbledore for negligence, and began a campaign to oust Dumbledore before the next school year began.

"It is hardly possible to remove Albus on 4 August and have all positions settled before 1 September," argued Fudge when he met with Sirius Black about his proposal.

"All things are possible with magic, Minister Fudge," Sirius replied. "Now, I have a prediction – if Albus Dumbledore is associated in any way with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on 1 September, my godson will remain at home with private tutors!"

(~~~~)

When Gringotts announced the discovery of the 'George III' wine vault, the Daily Prophet helped to flame the fires of interest. There were several famous wizards and witches from the period two hundred years before and the rich purebloods lined up to bid for the vintages offered for sale. Sirius wasn't interested but he wanted Harry to experience an auction at Gringotts so he took Harry, Neville, and Hermione to watch.

The vintage labelled 'Olde Riddles' was especially popular among a set of wizards that included Walden MacNair, Alecto and Amycus Carrow, Antonin Dolohov, Corbin Yaxley, Vincent Crabbe, Dexter Flint, Jacob Travers, and Hank Goyle. Frederick Parkinson got the last bottle offered for sale, though Delores Umbridge and Lucius Malfoy each received a bottle via owl post from an unnamed admirer.

The Daily Prophet posted casual reports about several of these wizards and witches in the following weeks as they suddenly disappeared from all society and business. In several cases, young heirs were suddenly responsible for the entire estates and the Wizegamot stepped in with the guardians to assist.

(~~~~)

Minerva McGonagall became headmistress of Hogwarts on 12 August 1995. Sirius Black funded the hiring of a new astronomy professor with Sinistra's promotion to be Professor of Transfiguration. His friend Remus Lupin returned at professor for the new Défense, Battle, and Duelling class. McGonagall selected Felicity Sinistra as her deputy and the two witches made substantial changes at the school for the better in Harry Potter's last three years there. She remained headmistress for another twenty years and Sinistra followed her in the office.

(~~~~)

Albus Dumbledore was 'retired' from all positions with the school. He spent his last years searching for clues on the return of the Dark Lord Tom Riddle though he was unsuccessful at finding any artefacts or evidence of the evil wizard's return. His search eventually took him to the continent and then further afield. He was last known to be searching for signs of Tom Riddle among the witch doctors of the Congo.

(~~~~)

Cedric Diggory went to work in the Ministry in the office of floo management. His good looks captured the attention of many women and men in the ministry and his popularity continued for the next ten years when he became responsible for home inspections. Cho Chang dropped Cedric during her seventh year at Hogwarts when Witch Weekly voted him the 'Biggest Wizard' in the ministry for the fourth month in a row.

He married three times but could never remain faithful.

(~~~~)

After completing his seventh year at Hogwarts, Harry went to university to study finance. He worked with goblins and built links between Gringotts and muggle banks. At fifty years of age, he retired to work in the British government – his billions gave him incredible power over wizards. He married once and the couple celebrated their 100th wedding anniversary eventually. His family grew many times and he had children, grandchildren and godchildren.

He never wrote an expose of his adventures at Hogwarts though many other people wrote stories about them.

(~~~~)

Contents

Twin Bullies 1

Slytherin Potion Secrets! 3

Harry Shares His Knowledge 11

Dobby's Contribution 12

First Task 13

Tri-Wizard Ball 17

Flashback 19

Pumpkin Juice 23

Second Task 25

Third Task 28

End of Tom Riddle 32

Harry Potter Returns 35

Epilogue Part 1 38

Flashback 44

Epilogue 2 47


End file.
